1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to an electrophotographic image forming device and more particularly to a toner port shutter for a toner container of an electrophotographic image forming device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming devices such as printers, copiers, facsimile machines, and the like, produce unusable “waste” or residual toner as a byproduct of an electrophotographic (EP) process. Ideally, all toner that is picked up by a photoconductive (PC) drum, such as from a developer roll in a single component development system or from a magnetic roll in a dual component development system, would be transferred onto a media sheet in a one-step toner transfer process or, prior to the media sheet, onto an intermediate transfer member (ITM) in a two-step toner transfer process. However, due to inefficiencies, some of the toner picked up by the PC drum does not get transferred to the media sheet or ITM. This residual or waste toner left on the PC drum after it has contacted the media sheet or ITM must be removed before the next image is formed otherwise print defects may occur. A cleaner blade or a cleaner brush is typically placed in contact with the PC drum to wipe and remove residual toner from its surface. A similar cleaning operation may be performed to remove residual toner from the ITM where a two-step toner transfer process is used.
Waste toner is typically delivered to and stored in a removable waste toner container to prevent the waste toner from releasing inside the image forming device. It is desired to prevent toner from leaking out of the waste toner container when the waste toner container is detached from the image forming device.